Sunday, June 5, 2011

Thank you, God....

.....For, getting us out of the cold season!!  Although this spring, especially the weather, has been super crazy!  I don't ever remember having as much wind in a spring as we've had this one.  It's blowing like crazy outside my window as we speak.  So far, we've had lots of tornadoes and near-tornadoes.  Two of our neighboring cities have had a lot of damage, particularly Joplin.  Some of my family (one of them follows WGL) were buried alive in the rubble of their home, but they were able to crawl out with just bumps and bruises (and aches).  I'm so thankful they are healthy and doing well, although, at this point in time, there are giant question marks looming over them.  But, they love Jesus, and I know that He's got amazing plans for them. 

My original plan was to have Lil' Lady Ann's bio for you, and she's informed me that she's working on it.  However, she's far more into doing things like planting and watering and mulching and weeding (NOT her favorite, but I SORTOF think it's therapeutic.)   I do remember that I said I'd introduce you to Asparagus.  Quite honestly, I don't have much content for this post, but I do have some pictures.  Really, they're acting more as a filler.   So, everyone, meet Asparagus:

Lady Ann has a heart for helping others, and she is doing a favor for a friend by keeping her friend's cats here on the little homestead.  There were four, originally, but one has vanished.  All of them are very skiddish, and don't like people.  However when I came on the scene, I was down-right determined to win their affections.  Asparagus is my first convert.  Wanna know how to win a cat's heart?  Starve it.  Then show up with a palate full of food, like a knight in shining armor carrying a bouquet of wildflowers and a box of chocolate (or, actually, a frozen Chai Bubbletea from Tea Drops.) (Or a frozen Rose Lassi Bubbletea) (I wonder if they'd give me free ones for free advertising...)  Well, it worked for me, at least.  I accidentally starved them (not even for a whole day), and by the time I brought their food to them, they were so hungry, they didn't even care if I was in the same room.  So I took advantage of their distracted eating and showed Asparagus that all cats like to be scratched right above their tales.  She believed me.  And now she begs for more.  We also noticed that one of the cats was pregnant.  Then, one evening as I was checking out the new growth in one of the raised beds....


...I heard the faint cries of baby kittens.  We thought that the pregnant cat had her kittens, but then what we found surprised us.  Asparagus was the mom!  We could not even tell she had babies baking in her belly!  Aren't they so cute?!  They are probably a month old--maybe more-- in these pictures, and we didn't even know they existed until they were about 3 weeks old.

There's only four.  In the above picture, two of them jumped on the other and started biting her.  Little vampires. 
They look so innocent, don't they?  They know how to hiss, but they don't know how to look scary yet.  It's so cute.  The first day I found these furrballs, I found a pile of dead kittens in a box nearby.  I figured Asparagus either couldn't take care of them all, or they just couldn't survive.  I happened to look over and see a another dead kitten half hidden behind something.   It looked newly dead.  It was all wet, and I figured I should get rid of it before it started rotting.  So I grabbed its tail and slid it out, and then it cried!!  It was still alive--and much smaller than its siblings.  The poor baby was laying there wet and cold, and completely segregated from everyone else, and clearly on its way to death.  It was OBVIOUSLY sick, and I will spare you from knowing how I knew.  So, I became its foster mama. 



I kept it warm by taking a feux-fur Russian looking hat and flipping it inside out.  I'm pretty sure it was convinced it was buried in its cuddly batch of siblings.  Can you see it curled up?  It blends.


I warmed it up and nursed it for a couple of days until all sign of sickness were gone.  I tried to see if Asparagus would take her back, but she didn't.  I also realized that I should probably get rid of the pile of dead kittens, but when I moved the box, the OTHER cat was busy nursing them!  They weren't dead at all!  Then, when I looked at their sizes, I realized that the baby I had been nursing actually belonged to THAT batch.  I then tried to see if she would take her baby back.  And she did.  Life is good.

Just a few simple things to share...

I harvested my first ever vegetable.  It's pretty.  Mmhmm.  I don't really care too much for radishes.  But this one was tasty!  Maybe because I'm biased?



 Lady Ann has a super cute little red barn.  SHE says it needs to be repainted.  I think it has character exactly like it is.  I wish I had a before picture of what was going on in front of the barn.  Instead, I have a "middle" picture, because this is not quite an after shot.  There is still more work to be done.  But we cleared out a lot of weeds and other stuff that Lady Ann had been wanting to get rid of, or move.  I found some of these pallets laying around and decided to take advantage of them.  Now we're trying to figure out the best way to deal with the ground.  Our goal is to permanently disable the weeds there, and still make it look aesthetically pleasing.  More potted flowers?  Some pretty, dainty ground cover?  Plant more grass?  That last one wouldn't really disable the weeds, but at least we could keep them trimmed up with those new-fangled machines called weed-eaters.  Any suggestions?




And, some more pictures.....just because.




My parents purchased some property to build their home several years ago, and this little gem was on the property.  They are wise, wise people, for they have chosen to leave beauty unscathed. 

This is the little breakfast area in my apartment.  It's my favorite spot.  It's cozy, and I like the view...


Greenery!  I also love lamp.  That lamp, actually.  I bought that lamp as an ugly brass thing for a few bucks at a thrift store, then spray-primed it and spray-painted it.  It's amazing how the white paint brings out it's curves. 


And last, but not least, STRAWBERRIES.  Yes, person.  I love me some berries!  This year, we will also have a butt-ton of raspberries, and a few blueberries.  Lady Ann also has two mulberry trees that are going CRAZY with berries right now!  Who loves antioxidants?  DING DING DING!  This girl. :)
 That is all I have for you today.  Hopefully next will come Lady Ann's bio, and I will also introduce you to Buddy.  Later, gators!


1 comment:

  1. Ahhh! I was very excited to see that there was a new post from you...and then I saw that it had pictures of the KITTENS!!! My "very allergic, but I love kittens" self has been slightly mollified. :) Thanks! Love ya!

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